Sorry, Tea Party: Noem Going Washington

All Kristi Noem ever had to offer the Tea Party was looks. Don't expect her to really change anything in Washington. She's already going Washington:

• Noem has picked an experienced Washington insider as her chief of staff. As Mr. Woodring describes Jordan Stoick, he's "a native South Dakotan who knows his way around DC." Gee, describe Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin with those same words, and the Noem people jeer and boo.
  
• Noem's ability to impress the party bosses with fundraising may keep her from getting much work done for South Dakota on committees. SDSU poli-sci guy Gary Aguiar says its tough for members of Congress to pursue both committee power and leadership power. Herseth Sandlin focused on committee work to fight for South Dakota interests. her main leadership push was in the Blue Dog Coalition, which put her at odds with her party leadership. Now who's that cute freshman on John Boehner's leash?
  
• As she gets swept up in the D.C. power games, I'll bet Noem still won't find the guts to say no to the $141.50 per capita in earmarks that South Dakotans gobble up each year. Has anyone heard Noem name a single South Dakota earmark she'll turn back? Do you think she'll tell Madison Republicans she's shutting down their four-lane dreams for Highway 34 to save our grandchildren from debt? We're waiting, Kristi....

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p.s.: Maybe I'm just overdosing on Noem snark to compensate for Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin's bad vote against protecting the budget from more tax cuts for the richest 1%. Stephanie! That's the Blue Doggery that got you beat. Read some Robert Reich!

Thune Flack: Herseth Sandlin Doesn't Buy Groceries

I was going to leave this alone, but some Republicans just can't win with class.

The Thune campaign successfully backed sock puppet Kristi Noem against Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. They got someone nice and Palin-y in the chute to run for Senator Tim Johnson's seat in 2014 (assuming the Palin and Teabagger fads can last that long...and gods help us if they do).

But gloating over their Ice Queen coronation isn't enough. The Thune campaign now feels compelled to play Oprah and tell Herseth Sandlin how she ought to live her life after an election defeat:

Andi Fouberg, press secretary for Sen. John Thune, said Thune was very visible in the wake of his razor-thin loss to Sen. Tim Johnson in 2002.

Thune, who then held the congressional seat that Herseth Sandlin does now, lived in Sioux Falls and was seen at the grocery store, at his children’s ballgames and in the community, Fouberg said.

“Senator Thune held a press conference the day after the 2002 election and had conversations with reporters throughout that week and beyond that,” she said. “There wasn’t really a period of silence” [Tom Lawrence, "Ousted Congresswoman Says She Has 'No Regrets,'" Mitchell Daily Republic, 2010.12.01]

Senator Thune, you pay Andi with an i $100,000-plus a year to say things like this? Our tax dollars at work? Try our tax dollars at jerk.

Andi with an i neglects to remind us that the "press conference" the day after the 2002 election was more likely Thune's concession speech, since the 500-some vote margin wasn't called in that race until the morning after the vote. And the Thune-Noem machine wasn't terribly interested in giving Herseth Sandlin any visibility right after they won, since Noem trotted out to give her victory speech hardly 30 seconds after Herseth Sandlin had begun her concession speech.

Andi with an i makes a whole whack of bogus implications with her other references:

• "lived in Sioux Falls"—still pumping the lie that Herseth Sandlin doesn't live in South Dakota. How many times does someone have to say she lives in Brookings for you to accept the plain fact that she lives in Brookings? Even in victory, is the lie so titillating, so addicting, that you can't give it up?
• "seen at the grocery store"—seriously? this matters? What do you want, Hy-Vee receipts? (Actually, speaking of receipts, we shouldn't forget that Herseth Sandlin was spending more money in South Dakota than Noem during the campaign.)
• "children's ballgames"—golly, we're sorry that Zachary isn't old enough for pee-wee football yet. Should Herseth Sandlin submit affidavits from neighbors who saw her around town with Zachary at McDonald's or the Children's Museum or other places?
  

Herseth Sandlin tells the press that she spent the past month at her home in Brookings, on a family Thanksgiving trip, and back at the office in Washington. She's been particularly busy there: in addition to making every vote so far in the lame-duck session, she's had to move her office, hand over office equipment, and let staff go, even though she's still on the job for another month. Whatever calls she's getting for jobs, the Lawrence article makes it sound as if Herseth Sandlin, the good boss, is more focused on helping her staffers make the transition and land on their feet.

Now I know the Thune-bots at Dakota War College are crushed to lose a fun headline-meme. (Heavens forbid bloggers lose easy snark and have to come up with original, useful news about policy.) But if Herseth Sandlin had taken the opposite route and made lots of public appearances post election, the Thune-bots would simply have resorted to some other slimy line, like "Who does she think she is? She loses but keeps trying to hog the spotlight. Why can't she leave the stage gracefully?"

In a political and media environment highly inclined to brush aside losers, outgoing Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin has been doing her job, helping her staff, and reclaiming some well-deserved privacy. And maybe, just maybe, Stephanie has been making up some quality time with a little boy who's a lot more important than providing fodder for those of us in the chattering class.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats All Rolling in Dough

Dr. Weiland gets me reading about the health insurance industry's huge donations to the Chamber of Commerce to fight health insurance reform. As an undercard, WaPo's Dan Eggen also discusses the personal wealth of our Congresspeople:

The personal wealth of members of Congress collectively increased by 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, even as the economic downturn eliminated millions of jobs for ordinary Americans, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics released Wednesday.

In the House, the study found, the median wealth was $765,010, up from $645,503 in 2008. In the Senate, median wealth grew from $2.27 million in 2008 to $2.38 million in 2009.

The new data come as lawmakers consider whether to extend tax cuts for couples making $250,000 or more - a move that presumably would benefit many of the members. The Obama administration wants to confine the tax breaks to earnings under $250,000, although it has signaled it might be open to a compromise with Republicans on the issue [Dan Eggen, "," Washignton Post, 2010.11.17].

Interestingly, I check the original database at OpenSecrets.org and find there is no mathematical correlation between Congresspeople's personal wealth and party affiliation. The Democrats have as many rich lawmakers as the Republicans.

Perhaps that's one more reason that the difference between Democrats and Republicans, left and Right, isn't as big as you think. The real battle lines in American politics may be between individual rights and corporate power... and those of us on the individual rights side are sorely outgunned!

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Our Congresspeople don't have to give exact data, just ranges for their net worth. Using OpenSecrets.org's calculation of average worth, 43% of House members and 70% of Senators were millionaires in 2009. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was one of them, with $1.3 million. She ranked about 160th among her colleagues.

Neither of our Senators made the millionaires' club in 2009. Senator Tim Johnson was back at $724K, ranking 79th. Senator John Thune showed "only" $441K in average net worth, ranking 88th.

Cap and Trade Not Ballot-Box Poison

Heartland Consumer Power District's Mike McDowell wags his finger at Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and any other Congressmen thinking of taking advantage of the lame-duck session to "enact policies rejected by the voters on November 3rd [sic]." McDowell's warning carries the hint that he includes cap and trade in that batch of "rejected" policies.

Mr. McDowell's queasiness about cap and trade, that really effective policy that was part of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, was not rejected by the electorate last week. The bill never made it to a vote in our laggardly Senate, but in the House, 80% of the Democrats who voted for ACESA won re-election. 27 out of 43 Democrats—63%—who voted no on ACESA lost last week. Only one of eight House Republicans who voted with Nancy Pelosi for cap and trade was beaten at the ballot box, and that was Delaware's Mike Castle, who lost the Senate primary to Christine O'Donnell... which worked out nicely for Democrats and other reasonable people.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was one of those Democratic nays. So was Dennis Kucinich. But Herseth Sandlin the Blue Dog lost, while Kucinich the fire-breathing liberal won. Go figure... and keep that in mind, candidates-in-waiting, as you think about whether you want to run in 2012 as an "Independent (democrat)" or a just plain "Democrat."

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By the way, conservatives, instead of gambling on your extreme best-case scenario that the scientific consensus is wrong, climate change isn't happening, and oil will last forever, why not be real conservatives and join the Dems in this lame-duck session to pass serious climate change and energy security legislation?

Votes from the Fringe: Stacey Outpolls Marking

In the South Dakota U.S. House race, Independent B. Thomas Marking got 5.99% of the vote. That 5.99% of the vote had little to do with Mr. Marking's qualities as a person or candidate. Lori Stacey, Constitution Party candidate for Secretary of State, nuttiest person on the statewide ballot, got 6.60% of the vote. 832 votes more than Marking.

B. Thomas Marking didn't say much, but what policies and positions he did advocate were debatable yet reasonable. Lori Stacey spouted conspiracy theories and baseless threats and dwelt on minutiae of word choice as only a desperate paranoiac fringe candidate can. Her campaign finances were laughable even compared to Marking's paltry sums.

Yet she got more protest votes than B. Thomas Marking, who got to play referee (a good role for Indies—keep that in mind for future elections!) between Kristi Noem and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in the marquee race of 2010.

Maybe worth noting: Marking's third-best showing came in Hamlin County, Kristi Noem's home turf. Noem's own neighbors were among the folks most willing to vote for the third man. He drew 8.32% in Noem's backyard, even better than the 7.89% he pulled in his home county of Custer. Marking had his 17th-best showing in Brookings County, Herseth Sandlin's current home county. He bombed in Herseth country up north, Brown County, where he got only 4.59% of the vote.

GOP Invades Mailboxes with Manufactured Scandal

I hear from our party chair that the Republicans violated federal law to bring me my weekend dose of Republican lies. According to a press release from the state Dems issued Sunday at breakfast, Republican operatives placed campaign literature for Kristi Noem, Rich Sattgast, and other candidates directly into mailboxes across Madison. Anyone other than the mailman or the owner sticking anything into a mailbox is violating federal law.

But violating the law and the truth hasn't bothered Republicans much this year. They were probably just in a hurry, right?

Among the pieces of mail Republicans have placed in my box this weekend is the newst big lie and distraction from real policy issues from the state GOP: the accusation that Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's $1300 expenditures of taxpayer dollars at "exclusive baby boutique" Baby Elements in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, represent some scandalous "silver spoon" "spending spree."

Hmmm... how does the GOP lie to us? Let me count the ways:

1. "Exclusive": I'm reviewing the store's description and not seeing how they "exclude" anyone. The "exclusive" part of this store is that it features handmade pieces available exclusively in Sioux Falls.
   
2. The GOP implies these were irresponsible expenditures. As Dr. Newquist points out, the expenditures were authorized, audited, and approved by a standard Congressional budget ovesight procedure... the kind of fiscal responsibility our South Dakota Republican crony capitalists don't follow as they issue no-bid contracts and bloat the state motor pool to benefit their wealthy friends.
3. Dr. Newquist informs us that these expenses were far from outlandish expenditures; they are pretty much the cost of doing business as a Congressperson:

   And what were the funds spent for? For the mounting and framing of historic documents, photographs, and cultural materials, such as star quilts, for the member offices to inform visitors of the traditions under which Congress operates and to promote the features of South Dakota. Anyone can view these items on display at the offices [David Newquist, "The Annals of Libel: A Campaign Strategy," Northern Valley Beacon, 2010.10.30].

4. In spending taxpayer dollars for standard office decoration, the Congresswoman bought goods and services from a local South Dakota craftsperson.
   
5. The Congresswoman did exactly what her Republican challenger Kristi Noem did on a much larger scale with the stimulus dollars: bringing federal dollars that would have been spent elsewhere here to South Dakota. $1300 in framing for the office is peanuts dust compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars Noem and Governor Mike Rounds have spent from the federal stimulus package to avoid making hard state budget choices.
6. Remember, Herseth Sandlin has a tendency to put money back into the South Dakota economy, while Noem prefers to export our money to John Thune's adman in Texas.
   
7. Republicans tell you Speaker Nancy Pelosi is evil... but they wouldn't even have the information they are twisting into lies if Pelosi had not ordered the online publication of the House Disbursements in 2009.
8. Thanks to Speaker Pelosi's drive for transparency, we can also learn that Minnesota GOP Congresswoman and conservative firebrand Michele Bachmann spent almost $44K in taxpayer money on franked mail. Bachmann spent more than twice as much in total and per household on mass mailings to constituents than did Herseth Sandlin over the period reported.

From this manufactured non-issue to the "failed" stimulus, Republicans from Kristi Noem on down are cheating and lying to us six ways from Sunday to win this election. Fellow Dems, if for no other reason, get up out of your chairs and vote Tuesday to reject this politics of deceit.
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Update 2010.11.02 10:05 CDT: Jeff Long, postal inspector and spokesman for the Postal Inspection Service out of Minneapolis, tells Austin Kaus at the Mitchell Daily Republic that the illegally placed campaign materials included literature for District 8 State Senator Russell Olson. Alas, says, Long, prosecution for this misdemeanor offense is unlikely. As usual, we aren't supposed to pay attention to Russell Olson's violations of the law.

RCJ Ignores Noem Conflict of Interest on Crop Insurance

The Rapid City Journal is one of the few major newspapers endorsing Republican Kristi Noem over Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. (Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, and Mitchell papers are backing the incumbent.)

RCJ bases its endorsement on bogus arguments:

1. They grumble that SHS hasn't been visible enough in West River, yet they say nothing about Noem's skipping the KOTA debate, the Rapid City Tea Party rallies, and even a visit from her own national party chair to stay home in East River and shoot birds.
2. They brand the stimulus a Democratic boondoggle, ignoring the good the stimulus is doing in their own backyard.
3. The biggest whopper: the RCJ editorial board chafes at Max Sandlin's lobbying but ignore the Noem family's own blatant conflict of interest:
   

   Some of Herseth Sandlin's decisions have been difficult for the congresswoman, when her personal and/or party's convictions cross with those of her constituents. Noem would have no such conflict [editorial, "Noem in Tune with West River," Rapid City Journal, 2010.10.31].

No such conflict? Bull-roar. In addition to surviving on farm welfare payments, Kristi and Bryon Noem sell crop insurance. Crop insurance has been recognized by Republicans and Democrats as a "textbook example of waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending." Crop insurance companies have regularly made three to nearly five times the benchmark rate of return on their policies. A 2007 report from the Government Accountability Office found that from 1997 to 2006, 42 cents out of every federal dollar spent on the crop insurance program went to the crop insurance companies, not to farmers.*

In response to this waste and inefficiency, the 2008 Farm Bill includes a new Standard Reinsurance Agreement that cuts six billion dollars from the crop insurance program and applies some of those savings to reducing the deficit. Those savings come in part by capping commissions for crop insurance agents like the Noems.

Those caps don't kick in until next year. Put Kristi Noem in office, and she'll have a chance to repeal those caps before they cut into her family's crop insurance profits. Wouldn't that be a nice little anniversary present for Bryon?

No conflict of interest there, is there, Rapid City Journal? Noem is clearly in tune with West River and South Dakota values of taking every penny we can from Uncle Sam.

Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has explicitly addressed concerns about her potential conflict of interest... in the pages of the Rapid City Journal itself. Kristi Noem has said nothing about her own direct business interest in the federal crop insurance program that she'd like the chance to vote on. In manufacturing its endorsement of Noem, the Rapid City Journal is holding the GOP challenger to a much lower standard than it applies to our incumbent Congresswoman.
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Bonus endorsement ding: RCJ concludes its Noem endorsement by saying "This country needs elected officials with positive, proactive solutions." That's funny: Kristi Noem hasn't offered any positive, proactive solutions. She hasn't even offered a clear agriculture policy.
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*That same 2007 GAO report suggest another possible connection between Noem, crop insurance, and the Farm Service Agency. The GAO found that the Farm Service Agency was not conducting enough inspections to prevent bogus crop loss claims. Crop insurer Kristi Noem served on the state committee of the Farm Service Agency in the 1990s. What government connections might Noem have made then that are now helping her crop insurance business?

Noem Says She'd Cut Budget By Cutting... Cuts?

Anyone else catch the SDPB Congressional candidates debate last night? GOP candidate candidate Kristi Noem once again demonstrated that she doesn't listen to the questions posed, only to the talking-point echoes pumped into her head.

The first question asked the candidates to cite specific cuts they would consider to get the federal budget under control. Both Noem and Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin opened with the usual empty fluff—very good question, thank you SDPB, blah blah. However, about 30 seconds in, Herseth Sandlin launched into a good bullet list of specific budget line items she would go after.

Noem, however, launched into her programmed screed on repealing health insurance reform. Noem said we need to cut health insurance reform because it raises taxes and cuts spending in various health care programs.

Reread that: asked what programs she would cut from the budget, Kristi Noem says she would repeal a law that makes cuts in the budget. Essentially, she just said, "I'd cut the budget by cutting cuts."

Kristi Noem: constant nonsense.

Kristi Noem Can't Stop Lying: Repeats Inaccurate GOA Rating

See that skinny image to the right? It's a lengthy Facebook conversation from Kristi Noem's page on the social networking site. Click on it to read the text.

The conversation began with an individual who asked why GOP candidate for U.S. House Kristi Noem had claimed to have the NRA endorsement when really the NRA has endorsed Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Now as we have discussed here, that statement isn't technically accurate: the infamous Noem guns flyer never uses the exact words, "The NRA endorses Kristi Noem" (although her Teabagger backers from Texas do spread that lie) but it uses the NRA logo twice and commits marketing tricks of omission and false comparison to deliberately create the impression among casual readers that the NRA backs Noem. The verbal and visual trickery is sufficiently obvious that my conservative counterpart Mr. Sanborn recognizes it as "intentionally published to mislead."

The Noem Guns flyer also incorrectly lists SHS's rating from the Gun Owners of America as a D rather than a B-. Even if I generously excused this false statement as shoddy, wishful research, it remains false, and should be corrected by the Noem campaign.

Yet with the B.S. flag thrown quite visibly in the South Dakota online press, Noem keeps saying what she now knows is wrong. As documented by these Facebook screen captures from about 14:30 CDT Friday afternoon, October 22, 2010, Kristi Noem writes the following lie:

Just to clarify, our mailer highlighted my A-rating with the NRA and Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin's D from GOA and her support for F-rated Nancy Pelosi. All those ratings are a matter of public record.

You can click on the skinny image above to see the full conversation as of Friday mid-afternoon; below is the Noem comment in question:


My friend John Hess wonders why I spend so much time supporting Herseth Sandlin. John, it's not so much that I want to be on the SHS bandwagon. She's still too much of a Blue Dog for me. Give me a Weiland Wildcat in 2012, and I'm there.

But I have yet to catch Stephanie Herseth Sandlin lying to me or to the public. Stephanie and I have differing opinions, but we can agree on facts. Kristi Noem is lying to me and to all of my fellow South Dakotans. Kristi Noem's disrespect for plain, simple truth disgusts and alarms me. We must not allow any person willing to commit such willful deception to become our lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Editor's Note: The long Facebook screenshot is several screen caps spliced together. I have omitted none of the comments and edited none of the text that was present at the time I copied the page.

Refuting the Noem-bots One Lie at a Time

On Facebook yesterday, one Donovan Wendling attempted to divert attention from Kristi Noem's persistent lies about Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's record on the Second Amendment with this red herring:

Can't say I have ever seen a picture of SHS holding any firearm. Makes me wonder!!

Wonder no more, Mr Wendling:

photo from Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's Facebook page, 2010.10.22

That's Lars Herseth and his daughter Stephanie, out menacing our state bird on an idyllic October day in South Dakota. Yesterday, actually. Happy hunting, everyone.
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Update 2010.10.24 08:40 CDT: Rod Goeman takes the political Rohrschach test and sees a doctored photo. I shake my head and post the other hunting snap Lars and Stephanie's Friday shotgun stroll:

Look like Stephanie's got a pretty firm grip on a pretty real gun. But never underestimate the capacity of Noem apologists to misinterpret reality.

Noem, Herseth Sandlin Take Identical Reasonable Dodge on Speaker Question

South Dakota's right wing enjoys giving Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin a hard time for not telling us who will get her vote for Speaker of the House in the next session. South Dakota's left wing enjoys heaping the same grief on GOP challenger Kristi Noem for her equivalent agnosticism on what ought to be an easy question (that and her inability to address the question without checking with her handlers).

But in their most recent dodging of that question, both Herseth Sandlin and Noem offer identical and perfectly sensible justifications for not naming their Speaker choice:

“I can’t say specifically on John Boehner because I don’t know what my other options are,” Noem said during an interview with the editorial board of the Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper. “There could be several people running.”

Noem added that if there were another candidate who better represented South Dakota’s interests, she would support that Republican over Boehner.

...In her own interview with the editorial board, Herseth Sandlin also struggled to answer whether she would vote for Pelosi to retain her position as Speaker if Democrats maintain the majority.

“I don’t know who will be running,” she said. “I haven’t made any commitments” [Anna Palmer, "GOP Candidate Won't Commit to Backing Boehner," Roll Call, 2010.10.21].

I can see the logic in both women's response (yes, even Kristi's, the queen of illogic). Pelosi and Boehner may not be on the ballot. Each may face challenges from other candidates. Heck, if the Dems hang on to the majority, Herseth Sandlin herself may run to roar conservative Blue Dog power. If the GOP takes the majority, Joe Wilson or Michele Bachmann may run to declare the age of Tea (although the Tea Party may be much weaker than the media hypes them to be).

The lone representative from South Dakota perhaps cannot afford to get out in front of the Speaker race and take a chance of alienating anyone who might be the eventual leader. Pick Pelosi or Boehner now, and on the off chance someone else takes the gavel, you've reduced your pull with the winner. Go out on a limb and say you don't back the current leader of your party, and you've just cast your lot with an admittedly unlikely insurgency and put yourself in the dog house with the most powerful person in your party.

Arguably, throwing in with a Speaker candidate now would be like endorsing Pastor Steve Hickey at 9 a.m. on February 16. Waiting until you have an actual slate of candidates to endorse one is not terribly bold, but it's perfectly reasonable.

And given that Noem and Herseth Sandlin are doing exactly the same thing, the whole Speaker vote issue would appear to be moot.

Republicans Backing Heidepriem and Herseth Sandlin...

...any Dems going red?

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Scott Heidepriem has won the backing of some high-profile Republicans, including Republican State Senator Stan Adelstein, Don Frankenfeld, and Russ Janklow. GOP State Senator Gene Abdallah has expressed his approval of Heidepriem's leadership on the issue of competing with the Larchwood, Iowa, casino.

Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin has traditionally pulled lots of Republican votes, and even in this tight year, she's able to tout a growing list of GOP endorsers, including former state legislator Casey Murschel and former Mickelson and Miller chief of staff Frank Brost. (And Brost endorses SHS and hopes for a Republican majority in Congress—go figure!)

Just curious: can anyone show me comparable Democrats crossing over to vote for the Republicans? As viewed from behind my partisan lenses, I can see plenty that our two top Democrats have to offer Republicans that they won't find in their own candidate: in Heidepriem's case, specific plans, real fiscal conservatism, and leadership; in Herseth Sandlin's case, specific plans, less partisanship, and the ability to articulate positions beyond the party talking points.

But what can Democrats find in either Dennis Daugaard or Kristi Noem that (a) they can't find in Heidepriem or SHS and (b) would actually appeal to Democrats?

SDGOP Fibs on SHS and Health Care

The South Dakota Republican Party's shadow-cowboy mailer contains a gross distortion of Stephanie Herseth Sandlin's voting record on health care reform. The SDGOP makes it sound as if Herseth Sandlin voted for health care reform (if only she would have!). The SDGOP accuses thus:

Stephanie supported the near-trillion-dollar Baucus health care bill that would have put the government in charge of your health care.

They even include two sources to back this claim up. Dang, if they've got footnotes, how can this claim possibly twist the truth?

1. SDGOP first cites Jason Allen from The Hill. There is no Jason Allen from The Hill.
2. Jared Allen did write in The Hill that SHS "gave her blessing to the Baucus bill."
3. However, that "blessing" was not a vote: it was SHS saying in September 2009 that Baucus's draft had the best chance of becoming law.
4. SHS actually said this: "The draft released by Chairman Baucus addresses two central goals of the Blue Dog Coalition and the administration: It is deficit-neutral, and it takes real steps to bring down the cost of healthcare over the long term" [emphasis mine], goals the GOP should admire.
   
5. SHS said the above in part because the Congressional Budget Office found the Baucus bill would have cost $829 billion over ten years, well below the President's $900-billion budget target... and a bit of a stretch to call "nearly-trillion-dollar." That's like scoring at 82% and telling your parents, "I got nearly a hundred!"
6. The above dollar figures come from the Politico.com article the SDGOP cites on this claim... and that article that only mentions SHS as being skeptical about the long-term budget sustainability of health care reform. It supports nothing stated in the GOP flyer.
   
7. SHS never voted on the Baucus bill, S 1796. She voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HR 3590, the legislation that finally passed.
8. Nothing in the Baucus bill or the legislation that actually passed "put government in charge of your health care." Nothing in either cited source says that. The bill I wanted, HR 676, might arguably have done that by implementing a universal single-payer system... but SHS, Pelosi, and President Obama never let that idea come to the table.

The shadow cowboy grouses about the voting record but cites no actual votes on health care. South Dakotans are "strong and independent," but they're also straight shooters... unlike the South Dakota GOP.

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Bonus Noem Trick: On her previous flyer (you know, the one that almost lies about the NRA and breaks VoteSmart.org's acceptable use policy) Noem misrepresents Herseth Sandlin's score from the Gun Owners of America. VoteSmart.org lists that rating as a D. The Gun Owners of America themselves currently list SHS's rating as B-. So which rating does Noem choose: the rating posted at the original source, or the lower rating at a secondary source that needs updating? Of course, Noem chooses her pitch over reality.

All this makes me wonder what kind of stories Noem makes up when the Highway Patrol pulls her over.

SDGOP Twists SHS Voting Record in Cowboy Mailer

Front of SDGOP Shadow Cowboy Mailer

"South Dakotans are Strong and Independent..."reads the front of a new mailer from the South Dakota Republican Party. The glossy flyer features a manly cowboy in obligatory hat silhouetted against a prairie sunset. It also demonstrates that the local GOP is not strong enough to win a campaign on the merits of their own candidates and policy solutions and has to depend on distorting the voting record of Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

The main thesis of this piece of GOP propaganda is the tried and tired strategy of making the election about the image of Nancy Pelosi. "Stephanie Herseth Sandlin Votes with Pelosi 91.5% of the Time," they warn. The SDGOP pulls that number from the Washington Post Votes Database, which does indeed say that SHS votes with the majority of her party 91.5% of the time.

Inside of SDGOP shadow cowboy mailer

The GOP mails this claim just as FactCheck.org issues a pretty clear explanation of how both Republicans and Democrats exaggerate the significance of the numbers from WaPo's database. FactCheck.org notes the obvious, that voting with the majority is not the same as voting with Pelosi. FactCheck.org then does the analysis I recommended in July and August and finds that a count of actual head-to-head votes on OpenCongress.org puts SHS's Pelosi-match rate at 81%. That's still reasonably high... until you realize that SHS votes the same way as John Boehner 52% of the time. FactCheck.org concludes that those 81% of votes with Pelosi include a lot of votes that are irrelevant to serious policy.

Irrelevant to serious policy... hmm... sounds an awful lot like the GOP and their shadowy cowboy.

Stay tuned: critique of the SDGOP Twilight Cowboy's health care smokescreen coming up!

More Stimulus "Failure": $61 Million for Lewis and Clark Water

Oh, that darn stimulus package: it keeps doing things! Good things for South Dakota!

The latest benefit accruing to South Dakota thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: $4.5 million for the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System. That's in addition to $56.5 million in stimulus dollars pumped into the project last year.

Counter to all the popular South Dakota grumbling about big government, local boosters insist that slurping up 45 million gallons a day of Missouri River water is vital for the growth of rural communities like Madison, Parker, and Bereseford.

Local boosters should note that Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted for the stimulus package that is keeping Lewis & Clark's workers on the job, while Mis-Representative Kristi Noem still says she would have voted against the stimulus.

Noem continues to insist, counterfactually, that the stimulus failed. How's it feel to be a failure, Lewis & Clark?

VoteEasy App Says Herseth Sandlin and Noem Not So Different

Speaking of Project Vote Smart, my neighbor and State Rep. Gerry Lange just pointed me toward a cool little candidate comparison app at VoteSmart.org. VoteEasy lets you indicate your position on a range of issues (abortion, Afghanistan, crime, economy...) as well as the relative importance of those issues to you. VoteEasy then compares your positions with your Congressional candidates' positions.

The Project Vote Smart folks say they spent thousands of hours punching votes, public statements, and other candidate info into their database. All that data gets translated into a nice, simple graphic: as you enter positions, little yard signs with each candidate's face move toward you or away from you. They also include little percentages showing how similar each candidate is to you.

My disheartening results:
Politically, none of South Dakota's Congressional candidates are like me. Democrat Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is closest to my politics, and she's only 43% similar. Republican Kristi Noem is just five percentage points back at 38%. Independent B. Thomas Marking scores 18% on my scorecard; Republican Senator John Thune scores 10%.

So if I take VoteEasy's analysis at face value, I'll only be a little more frustrated with Kristi Noem than I will be with Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Teabagger vs. BlueDogger—is there really that little difference?

Fortunately I can question that analysis. Just twelve issues, each represented by a single question, may not accurately capture the full breadth of one's political philosophy. The twelve questions proposed happened to address some key issues—public option health insurance, gun rights, definition of marriage—on which SHS and I disagree. The environment question asks only about climate change and ignores a host other issues like pollution, erosion, and wilderness preservation (although SHS still hasn't spoken up in favor of the Tony Dean Cheyenne River Conservation grassland wilderness... I'm waiting!). SHS and I could probably find a number of other specific policy issues—like, say, the Tribal Law and Order Act—that would increase our similarity rating.

Still, I leave for your enjoyment the question of what it means that Herseth Sandlin and Noem seem more similar to each other than to the Madville Times.

But enough about me: click on each yard sign, and wow! you get all sorts of tasty information, like SHS's 71% party loyalty rating on 31 key votes. (Senator Thune has 100% party loyalty on 45 key votes.) The app lists those key votes, as well as endorsements, campaign finance info... this program is one heck of an electoral dashboard!

Don't take my word for it. Try VoteEasy yourself, see how similar the candidates are to you, and tell me (and the Project Vote Smart folks!) what you think.

Noem Violates VoteSmart.org Rules in Tricky NRA Mailing

Team Kristi has more explaining to do. The Republican candidate for South Dakota's lone U.S. House seat is already catching heat for its "unfortunate" misrepresentation of the National Rifle Association's endorsement of Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Now eager reader Jim Hock distinguishes himself as commenter of the day (sorry, Jim, no prize but praise!). Instead of listening to shouting, Mr. Hock takes the initiative to find, read, and list all of the reasons the NRA prefers Herseth Sandlin over Noem. Mr. Hock then checks the claims Rep. Noem supports with her citation of VoteSmart.org and observes the following:

Please note that Project Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or program in any partisan activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.

Read that notice to candidates from Project Vote Smart right here.

I guess that's just one more rule Kristi Noem is in too much of a hurry to follow.

(And no, I'm not campaigning here; I'm reporting. I think, therefore, that my mention of and linkage to VoteSmart.org satisfies their rules. But if PVS has its lawyers call me, I'll understand... as long as they contact Team Kristi first.)

Portion of Mis-Representative Kristi Noem's NRA flyer, showing the political misuse of the VoteSmart.org name (not to mention the stunningly illogical apples-to-kumquats comparison Noem manufactures on Second Amendment issues) Click image to enlarge.

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Bonus Local NRA Note: For those who want to dismiss the NRA's endorsement of SHS by saying they just endorse incumbents, check out the State House races: the NRA gives incumbent District 8 Representative Mitch Fargen an A- and endorses him. However, they give Rep. Gerry Lange a C and do not endorse him (or anyone else on our local ballot).

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Update 2010.10.18 15:05 CDT: On further review, we discover that Noem misrepresents Herseth Sandlin's score from the Gun Owners of America. VoteSmart.org currently lists that rating as a D. The Gun Owners of America themselves currently list SHS's rating as B-. So which rating does Noem choose: the rating posted at the original source, or the lower rating at a secondary source that needs updating? Of course, Noem chooses her pitch over reality.

NRA Repeats: Vote for Herseth Sandlin

Noem's Misrepresentations "Unfortunate"

Repeat after me: The National Rifle Association wants you to vote for Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Conservative friends, if that really bothers you, feel free to declare the NRA an irrelevant bunch of Beltway elitists. Repeat that as often as you like. I know I will.

But Kristi isn't saying the NRA is irrelevant. She's stamping the NRA logo on her mailings like two big seals approval. Team Kristi is a whisper shy of a lie and they know it.

So does the NRA. From Roll Call:

“The one thing that is clear to our members in South Dakota is that we did endorse Stephanie Herseth Sandlin,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. “It’s unfortunate that there are efforts to try to insinuate otherwise” [Anna Palmer, "Herseth Sandlin Takes Issue with Noem's NRA Mailing," Roll Call, 2010.10.14].

The NRA spokesman could have stopped with that first sentence. That second sentence suggests that the NRA's endorsement of Herseth Sandlin is more than mere pro forma adherence to its "incumbent-friendly" endorsement policy. If the NRA really had its fingers crossed behind its back for Noem, it could have withheld any endorsement. And it could have withheld that second sentence, a pretty clear slap at Team Kristi's marketing trickery.

The NRA is a single-issue organization that distracts us all with John Wayne fantasies (and Constitutional misreadings, and outright lies) from discussing real solutions to real problems. Their endorsement of Congresswoman Herseth Sandlin doesn't make me like her any more.

But Kristi Noem's counterfactual insinuation that the NRA actually prefers her makes me like Noem even less. Watch out, Kristi: the NRA may feel the same way.

Noem Misrepresents NRA Endorsement of Herseth Sandlin

Did I say Noem lies? No... but I'm tempted....

Hey, if the Noem campaign can put up a fake anonymous blog, so can the Herseth Sandlin people. And at least the Dems (a) save money by using Blogger and (b) tell the truth!

Exhibit A on "Kristi vs. Kristi": Noem's misleading guns flyer that pretends to have the National Rifle Association's endorsement.

I received this flyer in my mailbox last week and wondered what the NRA thinks of Noem's using the NRA logo when the NRA is clearly behind Herseth Sandlin. Noem's only gun rights endorsement comes from a few stray gun nuts who want to carry firearms in kindergartens, courthouses, and bars. If I ran a nationwide organization that endorsed a candidate, and that candidate's opponent then co-opted our brand and logo and portrayed them as a stamp of approval on their propaganda, I'd be irate. But maybe that's just me being oversensitive....

Note also Noem's slick use of language, avoiding any mention of Herseth Sandlin's "A" rating with the NRA. (I got two more flyers in my box today that try to make me think Nancy Pelosi is on the South Dakota ballot.) Noem also stretches the heading about hunting: she ignores Herseth Sandlin's status as a fellow hunter and gunowner by inserting the adjective "lifelong."

By the way, that back image there...

...Did Noem check with her brother-in-law to make sure none of those critters were poached? And there's that NRA logo again. Oh, the word/image games Noem plays....

Herseth Sandlin Among Top 100 in Bioenergy

Depending on your position on biofuels, the following may constitute a slim voting issue in South Dakota's Congressional race. Biofuels Digest includes Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in its Top 100 People in Bioenergy. Our Congresswoman is listed at #30 alongside Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota.

Now Kristi Noem is able to wander through talking points on ethanol, too, but Herseth Sandlin is the recognized leader in promoting biofuels. If you dig biofuels, you probably stick with Herseth Sandlin's recognized performance rather than taking the chance that Noem will get out her GOP-Big Oil knives and gut government support for ethanol. And if you don't dig biofuels, you go for Noem and hope you can talk her back into the Republican free-market fundamentalism that would get her to reject government support for ethanol. (But good luck getting Noem to forswear subsidies).

Other persons of South Dakota interest on the Biofuels Digest list:

• Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, our neighbor from Iowa, is #1. The "runaway winner" in the poll on which this list is based, Secretary Vilsack "has been driving hard to implement a strong biofuels policy on behalf of the Obama Administration." Yes, that's President Obama, doing things most South Dakotans like. Hmmm....
  
• Jeff Broin of Poet Ethanol is #2. He knows who butters his bread: he's donated $1000 to Herseth Sandlin this year... and $1500 to Ohio Rep. John Boehner... and $30,400 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
  
• Senators John Thune and Tim Johnson make the list at #33 alongside their colleagues Charles Grssely from Iowa and Jeff Bingaman from New Mexico.
• Coolest name on the list: at #99, Hunt Ramsbottom of Rentech.

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Bonus Across-the-Aisle Advice: Hey, Kristi: wouldn't your position on ethanol be an easy write-up for your non-existent Agriculture Issues webpage?